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KOROLEA FARMING

HOME PROPERTY“Korolea” & “Royston”, Boggabilla NSW

OWNERSRobert, Jan & Andrew Newell

KEY STAFF AND CONSULTANTSPia AsanumaFred GhirardelloJohn Moorcorft

Rob, Jan and Andrew Newell and their team farm “Korolea” and “Royston”, 6km south of Goondiwindi. As a third generation Victorian farmer Rob and his wife Jan made a move to the north purchasing 250ha in 1978. Now, with a combined area of 2,644ha the Newells have developed 1,720ha for siphon irrigation. Their irrigation development of these properties is now complete with the remainder land taken up with irrigation infrastructure, planted trees and native vegetation, encouraging beneficial insects, birds and a diverse ecosystem.For the 2014/2015 season 673ha of cotton was picked, resulting in a yield of 13.3 bales/ha (to date, only half of the cotton has been ginned). With continued assessment, readjustment and tweaking the Newells have seen their yields continually increase. Their key operational focus is on timely operations, management of fallow, conservative use of water and managing input and operational costs to maximise profits.Rob began his farming career as a wheat grower, but his passion turned to cotton and he has embraced the cotton industry with gusto, planting his first crop of 133ha in 1978. The late Chris Lehmann was the agronomist for the Newells in the early days and encouraged them to start trial work with CSIRO and CSD which has continued ever since. For 19 years they have also grown trials for Monsanto.For the last three years, the Newell’s have hosted a conventional cotton nursery for CSIRO. This season over 1,000 conventional and Bollgard

3 varieties were planted. This experience has reiterated to Rob and Andrew the importance of Integrated Pest and Weed Management practices. Rob is emphatic that he does not want to return to the days of heavy insecticide spraying, cotton chipping and weed resistance and believes every grower should have to grow some conventional cotton as a living reminder of the advances that have been made. The Newells appreciate their long-term working association with consulting agronomist, Fred

FARM FACTS...TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIZE2,644ha

AREA TO COTTON 2014/2015673ha

AVERAGE YIELD 2014/201513.3 Bales/ha

WATER ALLOCATION7,922 ML River Allocation3,563 ML Supplementary

TYPE/S OF IRRIGATIONSiphon

Monsanto Grower of the Year

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Ghirardello who has advised them for more than 20 years. The farm is a supportive work environment, involving many coffee meetings with the team! Andrew’s return home to the farm ten years ago has meant the operation needs only two other full time staff members; John Moorcorft who has been there for 19 years and Pia Asanuma who joined the team two years ago. The Newells began a cotton rotation with wheat and barley on “Korolea” in 1987 and now largely use a one-in, one-out rotation, more recently incorporating chickpeas and vetch. The Newells have enjoyed the process of MyBMP accreditation using it as an opportunity to analyse their whole business and educating their team.

Rob Newell is committed to a healthy riverine environment; effectively and carefully utilising his water allocations totalling 7,922 ML plus 3,562ML of supplementary licences. Pumping from the Macintrye River the Newell’s have 6 storage dams inter-connected for irrigation, allowing them to irrigate 1,000ha in 5 days. Rob found growing cotton in 1978 a big challenge and he and Andrew still enjoy the challenge today. The Newells make a significant contribution to the continued progress and development of the cotton industry, revelling in the opportunity to support world-class research.

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